THE STORY OF JOHNNY. Johnny (not his real name) was a distributor for this MCO and also an agent with a very established life insurance company. He has established himself quite well in this business for the past five years, carving up notches in the company’s top ten list every year as a personal producer. However, he had always been selling its programs like any ordinary “medical card”, i.e., a hospital & surgical plan. Perhaps Johnny has NEVER advised any of his clients on the importance of preventive care and medical checkup. And the saddest part of it all is that Johnny personally did not even go for his own medical screening. HE NEVER BELIEVED IN THE IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTIVE CARE! He NEVER owned a program all through the years! Johnny had been doing quite well in the MCO's business until several months ago when our insurance suppliers announced the increase of the health insurance premium rates. Johnny could not accept the fact that health insurance premiums have to increase in line with the rising cost of healthcare. He still maintained the mindset that health insurance premiums should remain the same forever, just like how life premiums have always been the same always. This has affected his business because he couldn’t convince HIMSELF and his clients on the issue of premium increase. This had also demoralized him substantially. But then again, he NEVER had a program only his clients have it. Several days ago, after experiencing occasional chest pains for the past two months (in which he took no heed), Johnny suffered a massive heart attack and was admitted into a private hospital. Two days later he died. The postmortem revealed that all three of Johnny’s arteries were blocked and that was the cause of his death. His total hospital expenses came up to more than RM38,000 and at the time of publishing no information was available on whether these expenses were covered by his own “medical card” from his insurance company. But that’s not the point. Johnny can never feel the grieve felt by his family. Johnny never had a chance to say goodbye WHAT DOES ALL THESE MEAN TO US? Being our friend and associate, we sincerely express our deepest condolence to Johnny and his family. But the saddest part of all is that Johnny has never really understood the whole concept of comprehensive healthcare management. He was never convinced on the importance of preventive care a mistake that costs him his life that ended prematurely at the young age of 47. What a waste of human life! Even if Johnny had adequate life insurance coverage, it would ONLY ensure that his family would be well taken care of FINANCIALLY. But money will NEVER bring Johnny back. All that’s left for Johnny’s family are just memories of him and the reality of what lies ahead for his wife and children. Just like what happened to Mr Chin, Johnny could have seen it coming at least two months before when he first experienced the chest pains but he choose to ignore them. Perhaps Johnny would still be among us today if he had done something about the symptoms earlier, and perhaps he could have many more productive years ahead of him. Nobody will ever know. But what I know for sure is that he had a choice on this outcome years ago when he was doing his medical card business but he picked the wrong choice! WHAT ABOUT THE LIVES OF HIS CLIENTS? Have we ever wondered whether any of Johnny’s clients would suffer the same fate as he had just because maybe they have never been explained on the other benefits of the IHM programs? What if you and your family are one of his clients? What would you do now? The concept of “Prevention is better than Cure” has existed for at least a few hundred years. Why does it take so long for such a concept to be emphasized here? Why are we still so ADAMANT in accepting the fact that “Prevention is ALWAYS better, Less costly and Less Painful than Cure”? Sometimes in life, it is very difficult to get people to realize that we do care for them deeply to ensure realization sets in before something bad happens to them sometimes to the extent that we risk the friendship even! I hope we can learn from mistakes made by others and not of our own because we would never know which mistake will actually be our LAST. I urge that all of us make this as one of our mission and contribute generously to the benefit of mankind and for the good of all.